Life and Writings of Francis Huh er. 125 



an honorable rank by the sagacity and precision of his researches ; 

 but it is plainly perceptible, in reading his works, that his brilliant \m- 

 agination urged him toward the region of general ideas. Unprovided 

 with terms of comparison, he sought them in that theory of final 

 causes which is gratifying to every expanded and religious mind, be- 

 cause it appears to furnish a reason for a multitude of facts, the em- 

 ployment of which, however, as is well known, is prone to lead the 

 mind into error ; but we must do him the justice to acknowledge that 

 the use he makes of them is always confined within the limits of phil- 

 osophical doubt and observation. He had, in early life, derived ideas 

 of this general nature from the JVatural Theology of Derham, and 

 from the writings of his friend Ch. Bonnet ; they found a ready re- 

 ception in his sensitive and elevated soul, which loved to admire the 

 author of nature in the harmony of his works. His style is, in gen- 

 eral, clear and elegant ; always retaining the precision requisite to 

 the didactic, it possesses the attraction which a poetic imagination 

 can readily confer upon all subjects ; but one thing which particular- 

 ly distinguishes it, and which we should least expect, is, that he de- 

 scribes facts in a manner so picturesque, that in reading him, we fan- 

 cy that we can see the very objects which the author, alas, was never 

 able to see ! In reflecting on this singular quality in the style of a 

 blind man, the difficulty appeared to be solved in thinking of the ef- 

 forts which he must have made in arranging and connecting the state- 

 ments of his assistants, so as to form in his own mind a complete im- 

 age of the facts. We who enjoy, often with so much indifference, 

 those invaluable senses by which we are enabled to embrace at once 

 such a diversity of objects, and so many parts of the same object, of- 

 ten neglect to study those parts upon which others are dependent, 

 and which ought to claim the first place in the explanation ; our de- 

 scriptions are often confused, precisely because our impressions of 

 objects are made simultaneously and without effort. But Huber 

 was obliged to listen with attention to the recitals of others, to class 

 them methodically to reproduce an image of the object by his own 

 conceptions ; and his written narration, after this laborious operation, 

 presents the subject to our view, under all the aspects which have en- 

 lightened his own. I venture also to add that we find in his descrip- 

 tions so many masterly touches, as to justify the conclusion, that if he 

 had retained his sight he would have been like his father, his broth- 

 er* and his son, a skillful painter. 



* Jean Daniel Huber, a skillful painter of animals. 



